The invention relates to a storage and dispatch container for variable quantities of radioactive miniature radiation sources as well as a locking and opening device for the said storage and dispatch container and is applicable for the transport of radioactive miniature radiation sources in well organized and undamaged condition. The dispatch containers serve as storage depots at the same time and meet the requirements of radiation safety with passive protection from loss. Their construction permits automatic filling or transfer of the contents using a corresponding device.
The construction of the locking and opening device makes it possible to open a correspondingly designed container, i.e. allowing free access to its input/output channel, and thus manually or automatically fill the radioactive miniature radiation sources into a container or remove them from the same without direct contact.
The miniaturization of radioactive radiation sources first took place in recent times and the wish to be able to remove these sources from a container in a certain order (axially oriented) demanded a suitable storage and transport concept. No comparable storage and transport container has existed until now.
Automation of the production of radioactive radiation sources also first took place in recent times and required a new concept with reference to the filling of the final packaging.
A transfer device incorporated in a system for the radioactive irradiation of blood vessels, wherein the radioactive radiation sources are fed into a catheter is described by WO 97/37715 A1. This device serves the sole purpose of introducing the radioactive sources into the catheter during treatment (of human beings) and then conveying them back into the device. This device provides screening for the clinical staff at the same time. It is not conceived as a storage and dispatch container.
The invention is based on the objective of creating a packaging which makes safe storage as well as safe transport of axially oriented radioactive miniature radiation sources possible, wherein the filling up and emptying with simple means is reliable and practicable, and wherein the packaging can be manufactured simply and inexpensively.
A further objective of the invention is the creation of a locking and opening device by means of which safe loading and unloading of axially oriented radioactive miniature radiation sources in containers is made possible.
According to the invention, this objective is achieved by the features in the characterization parts of claims 1 and 10 acting in conjunction with the features of the classifying clause. Purposeful embodiments of the invention are to be found in the subordinate claims.
A particular advantage of the invention consists in that safe transport as well as the safe storage and non-hazardous handling of miniature radiation sources made possible in that a capillary tube for the uptake of the radiation sources is arranged in the main body of the container and that the main body exhibits a lower end-piece with a fluid-medium connection as well as an upper end-piece with an input/output opening for the radiation sources, which can be locked by means of a locking mechanism.
Further advantages of the invention are the manual as well as the automatic remote control filling capacity of the container, the variability of the number of miniature radiation sources to be loaded, the orderly removal of the sources and the sure determination of the level of contents.
The container meets the radiation safety requirements by means of the materials used, and medium-term storage of the sources in the said container is possible.
The transparency of the materials used ensures that both the level of contents and the condition of the radiation sources can be optically controlled and that the radiation sources can be counted.
The design of the dispatch and storage container makes variations possible in the number of radiation sources to be dispatched. The input/output channel lock cannot be opened without auxiliary devices, whereby unintentional unloading is prevented.
An additional advantage of the invention is that non-hazardous and gentle handling of miniature radiation sources during conveyance into and out of a container is possible by means of a slide valve positioned between headpiece and cover which opens or locks the input/output channel in the neck with a cut-off needle when the slide valve is actuated.
Further advantages of the invention are the rapid automatic and thus safe remote input and removal of radioactive miniature radiation sources from geometrically suitably designed filling packages (containers), a high degree of safety within the meaning of radiation safety and the possibility of the orderly input of several radiation sources in one operation.